CHAPTER 7

Jemma panicked. Skye was telling her about what May had said while she cried but then Skye started acting strange. She'd stopped talking and was breathing heavily. "He's not dead." Skye had muttered before running through the endless corridors.

"Are you sure you're not losing your mind?!" Jemma shouted after Skye. "He was shot down, there's no way he could have survived." Jemma picked up speed, getting closer and closer to Skye in the dark halls of Atlantis. She grabbed Skye's wrist and pulled her round. "It's late, you're tired and upset. You just need some rest, your mind is creating delusions because you're so tired."

"No I'm not. I can feel it." Skye continued her trek through the halls until she found the room she wanted. She waved her hand over the door panel and it slid open. She ran over to Isabel's sleeping body and shook her awake. "Is it possible to make a connection with someone but where you know what they're doing?"

"Yeah, I've formed a few. They're pretty hard to establish before you learn how to control your powers." Isabel muttered. "It's definitely possible though." She blinked herself awake. "You're going to have to tell me what you're thinking, I block out people's thoughts subconsciously."

"Ward's not dead. I know it." Skye blurted. "You said that I could make a full link with someone if I worked hard enough. I'm ready to do that work."

"You'd better be sure because if Ward doesn't feel the same way about you then you'll be stuck with the link." Isabel warned. "Well, I say that but it took two years to break the connections with people who had been told I was dead."

"I'm sure. I know that if I can make this work I can help him out." Skye had never been more sure about anything before.

"Let's get started then." Isabel sighed before rolling out of bed. "I'm going to get dressed and I'll explain where we're going on the way." She pulled out her clothes and indicated for Skye to turn around. Within a minute she was dressed in a pair of shorts and the over shirt she had worn when she was living with the Nox. She had twisted a feather and some flowers into part of her hair. Pulling a bag that looked like it was made of similar material to the over shirt, Isabel pulled on her shoes.

"What's that for?" Skye pointed at the addition she had made to her hair.

"It's part of the Nox culture, the people who helped me develop my abilities. They believe that being close to nature heightens their power and it does to a certain extent but we'll need to be in the forest for this to work." Isabel explained as they moved through the halls.

They walked up to Dr Weir's office and were relieved to see that she and Colonel Sheppard were still there, even though it was two in the morning. "We need to take a puddle jumper to the mainland." Isabel asked, skipping straight to the point. "You know that the Nox live on a forest planet and we'll need to be in that environment for Skye's plan to work. She thinks that Ward is still alive and if he is she should be able to make a connection between herself and him, it'll be like the one you two have."

"Wait, he was killed." John counteracted.

"Not necessarily. He was shot down yes but that doesn't mean that he was killed, he might have been unconscious when we tried to make contact." Skye argued. "I know it's a desperate move but it's the only one we have left and I'm not giving up on him."

Coulson jogged into the office. "I just spoke Simmons and she thinks that Skye might be telling the truth. She's currently nursing an electrical burn from a piece of faulty equipment but she checked the results, Skye's in perfect condition."

"Faulty equipment is called faulty for a reason." John debated. "But she is a very intelligent girl."

'John, we can trust her.' Dr Weir soothed.

'I know but who knows what might happen to them on the mainland.'

'It's her choice. We should let her make it.'

'Okay.'

"Be in the jumper bay in 20 minutes and we'll have supplies ready for you." Elizabeth allowed before making her way out of the room with the rest of the group.

"May will be joining you. It won't hurt to have someone ready in case something goes south." Coulson informed the girls. "She'll be waiting for you." With that he made for a different set of stairs.

"Skye, get anything you think you'll need. This might take a few days." Isabel warned before heading for the jumper bay.

"Good luck." John smiled before walking away, hand in hand with Elizabeth. The two were smiling about something, it was a warming but saddening sight for Skye. If she failed, Grant wouldn't get any back-up. She's promised him that they would be his extraction if any mission went south.

Skye had quickly gathered what she needed and walked into the jumper bay to see Isabel helping load the last of the supplies into the jumper with the help of May. It was going to be a long shot and she hoped that Grant could wait for a few days.

…

He'd managed to cloak the jumper and move it closer to the gate but he could only hope that his team would come for him. The door had smelted shut when the blast hit and he was stuck. His planning had gone south because he knew that they would think he was dead.

"Now don't be so pessimistic Grant. You've been in worse situations." He tried to reassure himself.

…

Skye was pitching her tent while Isabel decided that she would build a traditional Nox hut. "It might help and it'll keep the bugs out better." She said. Skye hated the thought of being stuck with the creatures, it repulsed her to think that she could be sharing a bed with anything.

When Skye next looked up she was surprised to see that Isabel's promised hut was taking shape beautifully. It had only been half an hour but May walked back through the trees carrying varying sizes and lengths of logs and branches.

"Will we need any more?" May asked civily. It was strange not to hear a hint of spite or remorse in the woman's voice. Skye wasn't sure if being around May was going to be a good idea. She'd been in a relationship with Ward and he barely cared about her. Skye didn't like that. Because of the woman she'd confided in, she'd been out of reach of the man she loved.

"Just for a fire, I'm almost finished." Isabel called down from the tree she was cutting the vines from. "I'll need some more vines, I won't need too many though. I can use the netting in the packs as well."

May walked into the woods once again. That was when Skye heard a loud thud. Thinking something had gone wrong, she turned around with her gun raised to see that Isabel had jumped down from the tree. "It's quicker." She shrugged before preparing a fire pit.

Skye went back to her thoughts. Wondering where Ward was and whether he was going to be okay. Skye was desperate to know what was happening but at the moment, she couldn't know. She didn't have the ability to. It was aggravating, knowing that she was so close but might not be able to do anything about it. Not only aggravating, it was painful. It ripped through her like a hot knife. There was no rational explanation for it, but the reality of the situation might kill her.

"Skye? Skye!" Skye heard Isabel calling her name, it sounded like it was getting closer. Someone was shaking her, Isabel was shaking her.

"Sorry, I was deep in thought." Skye blinked a few times, trying to get her eyes used to the searing light.

"I could tell, you were buried so deep I couldn't reach you." Isabel's eyebrows were furrowed, her eyes were piercing Skye's. Skye felt like there was someone with her. Not physically, it was hard to explain.

"There's no damage." Suddenly the feeling was gone, it was weird. "That was me. It's common among the young Nox to burrow deep within their minds and leave damage behind."

"I'm not a child." Skye retorted. She was twenty-one, not nine!

"The Nox live for hundreds of years, twenty-one is young. Besides, you've had practically no training." Isabel said absently as she arranged the wood may had brought into a fire. As soon as she was done it burst into flames. Skye jumped back and noticed the slight smirk playing on Isabel's lips. "I'll teach you that when we get Ward back."

"If we get him back." Skye muttered.

"We won't if you think like that. What I'm going to teach you will take a lot of effort and concentration, if you don't put your heart into it, it won't work. The slightest doubt can ruin that." Skye looked back into stern eyes. "It will work, I've done it before."

"Okay. Let's do this." Skye found a new sense of determination, it was going to work. She could feel it.